Satellite descriptions that follow contained
some ‘contradictory data’, notably spacecraft’s weights and orbital altitudes.
This reflects the fact that data differ from source to source and changed
with time. We publish these ‘inaccuracies’ to show that even simple historical
facts are hard to establish.

.

Lunik I / Metcha(“First Cosmic Rocket“)

Spacecraft:

Ye-1 no. 4 (E-1 no. 4) ; the
spacecraft was called the "Cosmic Rocket" in the Soviet press, popularly
called Lunik I, and retroactively named Luna 1 after 1963.

Flew by the Moon at a distance
of only 6,000 km, becoming the first spacecraft to fly close to the Moon.

•

1st man-made object placed in orbit around
the Sun.

•

1st official Soviet lunar probe (4th Soviet
attempts).

•

In communications up to 600,350 km from Earth.

Sponsor:

Soviet Union (Korolev's Design Bureau)

Launch:

2 January 1959 at 16h41 UT, from
Baykonur Cosmodrome's LC-1, by an A-1/"Vostok".
(Formerly: launched by a SL-3 from Tyuratam.)

Orbit:

146 million km x 198 million
km x 1° x 443 days.

A&A

146.4 million km x 197.2 million km x 1°
x 450 days.

ESAM

0.98 a.u. x 1.32 a.u. x 0.1° x 450 days

SSP

0.01 a.u. x 1.314 a.u. x 0.9766°
x 450 day.

TRW

Decayed:

Forever in space.

Mission:

Historical reports: U.S.S.R. launched
Lunik I into a solar orbit, with a total weight of reported 1,470 kg, the
first man-made object placed in orbit around the Sun. It was called
Mechta (“dream”) by the Russians. Lunik I transmissions ceased on 5 January
1959 at 600,350 km from Earth. Lunik 1 carried
experiments to study gas components of interplanetary matter and corpuscular
radiation of Sun, magnetic field of Earth and Moon, meteoric particles,
and heavy nuclei in primary cosmic radiation. Total weight: 1,472 kg, and
instrumentation: 360 kg (unofficial). First successful deep space probe;
orbit the Sun in 15-month cycle. (A&A, 1961)

* * * * *

At the close of 1958, Soviet authorities announced
that the new year would bring the first Soviet flights to the Moon. On
January 2, 1959, Luna 1 was launched on a fast flight toward the Moon,
carrying a payload weight of 361.3 kilograms, plus a separated final stage
carrier rocket with a weight of 1,111 kilograms, for a total weight of
1,472 kilograms, The payload had a minimum collection of geophysical instrumentation
in a spherical container, and projecting antennas. Because of the high
velocity and its announced package of various metallic emblems with the
Soviet coat of arms, it is reasonable to conclude that it was intended
to strike the Moon. It missed its target, and flew by the Moon at a distance
of 5 to 6 thousand kilometers at nearest approach, had its orbit bent by
lunar gravity and flew off to become the first artificial planetoid of
the Sun. Its batteries gave out very soon after, on January 5, at 600 thousand
kilometers from Earth. (SSP, 1976)

* * * * *

Current overview: Launch to impact the
Moon, this probe passed by the Moon at a distance of 6,400 kilometers about
34 hours after launch - missing its main target. Its trajectory was less
than accurate due to a problem in the guidance system of the launch vehicle.
It is the first human-made object to reach Earth’s escape velocity and
became the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the Sun. The 361.3-kg (with
upper stage) lunar probe was sphere-shaped with five antennae extended
from one hemisphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of
the sphere. There were no propulsion systems on the Luna 1 spacecraft itself.
The spacecraft contained radio equipment, a tracking transmitter and telemetering
system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary
space, including a magnetometer, geiger counter, scintillation counter,
and micrometeorite detector, and other equipment. On 2 January 1959,
after reaching escape velocity, Luna 1 separated from its 1472 kg third
stage (which then travelled along with Luna 1). On 3 January, at a distance
of 113,000 km from Earth, a large cloud of sodium gas was released by the
spacecraft. This glowing orange trail of gas, visible over the Indian Ocean
with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star, allowed astronomers to track
the spacecraft. It also served as an experiment on the behavior of gas
in outer space. Luna 1 passed within 5,995 km of the Moon's surface
on 4 January after 34 hours of flight. It went into orbit around the Sun,
between the orbits of Earth and Mars. The measurements
obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation
belt and outer space, including the discovery that the Moon had no magnetic
field and that a solar wind, a strong flow of ionized plasma emmanating
from the Sun, streamed through interplanetary space.

Current overview: The payload for this
mission was a technology demonstration satellite to test of the performance
capabilities of the propulsion and guidance system of the booster and to
test systems for the Discoverer and Corona reconnaissance satellite program.
Unlike future Discoverer flights, it did not carry a camera or film capsule.
It was a 5.73-metre long, 1.52-metre diameter cylindrical Agena-A upper
stage capped by a conical nosecone. The satellite casing was made of magnesium.
Most of the 18-kg payload, consisting of communication and telemetry equipment,
was housed in the nosecone. It included a high-frequency low-power beacon
transmitter for tracking and a radar beacon transmitter with a transponder
to receive command signals and allow long-range radar tracking. Fifteen telemetry channels were
used to relay roughly 100 aspects of spacecraft performance.

On January 21, 1959,
the first Discoverer dummy craft sat on its Thor-Hustler rocket awaiting
launch. The payload at the top consisted primarily of test instruments,
it bore little resemblance to the intended payload of later Discoverer
missions. The Thor was unfueled but the Hustler was receiving its supply
of nitric acid. The pad workers were performing the final checkout
of the rocket when an alarm horn suddenly went off. Somehow, the Hustler’s
internal timer had been activated. The vehicle behaved as if the Thor had
burned out after boosting it high into the atmosphere. First, it fired
the explosively activated collar that held the two vehicles together so
that they could separate. Then it had fired its small solid-propellant
ullage rockets used to push the Hustler away from its spent booster and
push the propellant in its tanks to the rear so that the engine could fire.
Fortunately, someone in the blockhouse reacted quickly and immediately
cut power to the rocket and yanked the fuel back into its storage tanks.
No one was injured. The rocket sat there for a long time as everyone waited
in horror to see it might explode. Finally, the vehicle was secured and
hauled back down to the horizontal and everything was made safe. Although
the launch attempt had not been named beforehand, those who knew about
it began calling it “Discoverer Zero.” In a 1996 Discovery
Channel documentary, Col. Frank Buzard, Corona Chief of Testing, explained:
“One [failure] that got no publicity at all [was] called Discoverer 0.
Thas was our very first launch attempt and we have this thing sitting on
the launch pad. We’d gone through the countdown, and we’ve been very careful
in preparation to test everything, to make sure that everything works wright.
We pushed the automatic sequencer and, about 30 seconds later: technical
hold! “What had happened
was there was a sneak circuit and, when we pushed the automatic sequencer,
there were little rockets up on the Agena that were supposed to separate
Agena from the Thor, and they fired! They were only supposed to fire when
the Thor had burned out and you were up almost in orbit. But here we are,
still hook up to the launch pad, and these things fired! It was not
a very good practice!”

17 February 1959 at 15h55 UT,
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-18A, by a Vanguard.

Orbit:

557 km x 3,315 km x 32.86°
x 125.4 min.

A&A

559 km x 3,320 km x 33.88° x 125.7 min.

ESAM

559 km x 3,320 km x 32.9° x 125.7 min.

USCSP

559 km x 3,142 km x 32.9° x 124.1 min.

TRW

557 km x 3,049 km x 32.9° x 122.80 min.

Wade

Decayed:

Still in orbit.

Mission:

Historical reports: Vanguard II, the
fifth U.S.-IGY satellite and a meteorological “cloud cover” satellite,
was successfully launched into orbit. The 9.4 kg (32 kg) sphere contained
photocells to produce images of the Earth’s cloud formations. Although
the payload developed a precession (wobble) that scrambled the transmitted
images, it proved the feasibility of the weather satellite concept. Vanguard
II’s Instrumentation: cloud cover, 2 photocells designed to produce images
for two weeks. Total weight in orbit (including 3rd stage): 32 kg.(USASA,
1960; A&A, 1961)

* * * * *

Current overview: Vanguard 2 was a 9.8-kg
satellite designed to measure cloud-cover distribution over the daylight
portion of its orbit; In a sense, it was the first applications, rather
than scientific, satellite. The craft was a magnesium sphere, 50.8 cm in
diameter. It contained a telemetry transmitter, a minitrack beacon, a command
receiver, a tape recorder, a turnstile antenna, four photocells and two
optical telescopes provided by the Army Signal Research and Development
Laboratory. Both transmitters functioned normally for 19 days. The satellite
was spin stabilized at 50 rpm, but telemetry data were poor because of
an unsatisfactory orientation of the spin axis. Although this was the second
successful launch of a Vanguard satellite, spacecraft's wobble made the
data on Earth's cloud cover unusable.

Notes:

By the time Vanguard II was launched, NASA
had been created and management of the program was officially transferred
to the new agency. However one of the NASA Administrator's first acts was
to transfer management of Vanguard back to NRL.

As reported by the New York Times:
“The United States tried to put a new satellite into orbit today [Feb.
28] as the first step in a new program of space research. But hours after
the successful launching, the outcome of the effort was uncertain. The
Air Force reported that special tracking stations in Alaska and Hawaii
had failed to locate the Discoverer I satellite during the interval of
its first projected circuit of the Earth. Rear Admiral John Edward Clark
said the rocket had been tracked for only six minutes. “The Discoverer
I shoot was the first satellite rocket launching on the West Coast [that
is: Vandenberg AFB]. It was also the first attempt to achieve a new-type
of orbit, over the North and South Poles, in which subsequent television.
eyes satellites might scrutinize the whole surface of the globe. “The launching was
the first of a dozen projected satellites in the Discoverer program announced
last December. The program aims at sending mice and monkeys into
space as precursors of human voyagers. The Discoverer program is an off-shoot
of the Air Force's Weapons System 117L project, nicknamed Big Brother because
of its surveillance motif.” The day after, the
NYT reports: “Sporadic radio signals tend to indicate that the Discoverer
rocket launched last night from the California coast has achieved orbit,
the Air Force said tonight. Tracking stations have since picked up random
signals on the frequency of the Discoverer's radio beacon, which approximates
the predicted position of the satellite. The Air Force said attempts to
track the Discoverer were continuing and additional contacts should assist
in defining the precise orbit. Officials speculated something may have
gone wrong with the antenna system in the rocket.” Then, the NYT reports:
“The Air Force said tonight that new signals were received today from the
Discoverer I polar rocket. It said they "substantiate our earlier belief
that it is in orbit." They were "sporadic" signal bursts of from four to
six seconds lasting for a period of about six minutes, the statement said.
'The Air Force and Lockheed scientists believe that an unprogrammed oscillation
in space by the satellite is responsible for the erratic reception," the
statement said. Spokesmen said this meant the satellite was "tumbling"
in space. Asked whether this statement meant that trackers definitely had
established that Discoverer I was in orbit, a spokesman would say only
that "this substantiates our earlier belief that it is in orbit." The spokesman
also referred to a Defense Department announcement in Washington earlier
today that the department expected to reach a definite conclusion tomorrow
on whether Discoverer I went into orbit as planned.” That conclusion
was that the satellite launching attempt was “definitely successful.”

* * * * *

Current overview: First launch attempt
of a Discoverer satellite and first launch of a spacecraft from Vandenberg
AFB, the Pacific Missile Range (PMR), in California. Discoverer 1 was a
5.73-metre-long, 1.52-metre-diameter cylindrical Agena A upper stage capped
by a conical nosecone. Most of the 18-kg payload, consisting of communication
and telemetry equipment, was housed in the nosecone. It included a beacon
transmitter for tracking and a radar beacon transmitter, to receive command
signals and allow long-range radar tracking. Unlike future Discoverer flights,
this one did not carry a camera or film capsule. Officially, it is
reported that, after first stage burnout, the rocket coasted to orbital
altitude where the second stage engine put the satellite into a polar orbit,
where it remained until re-entry on 17 March 1959. Discoverer 1 thus became
the first satellite ever put into a polar orbit. But difficulty was encountered
receiving signals after launch and it was reported that the satellite broadcast
intermittently later in the flight. It is otherwise
reported that the launch proceed normally until after second-stage rocket
ignition and that, at 8,5 minute, all contact with the vehicle was lost.
Based upon their initial calculations, Lockheed engineers determined that
the vehicle should have entered an orbit. However, Frank Buzard, an Air
Force officer in charge of the Discoverer launch program, explained: “The
Air Force announced that it was in orbit based on tracking and telemetry
data from Cooke Tracking Station, but it never showed up at the Alaskan
or any other tracking stations.” None of the tracking stations ever picked
up the signals. Thus, the launch was reported to have been successful at
the time and announced as the first satellite launch into polar orbit,
but it transpired later that no signals of the satellite were picked up
in orbit. It is now generally believed that the satellite did not reach
orbit and impacted in the Antarctic. Dwayne A. Day analyzed this mission
in “Lost over the
horizon: Discoverer 1 explores Antarctica,“ in Space Review
of 13 April 2009. Discoverer 1 is
thus one of a kind. It seems that the spacecraft failed to reach orbit
(never transmitting data), but it was considered a success, even receiving
an international designation (1959-003A) and a NORAD number (13th space
object catalogued). It looks as if the Department of Defense needs to score
a success for its inaugural launch from Vandenberg of its flagship Discoverer
program. In a 1996 Discovery
Channel documentary, Col. Frank Buzard, Corona Chief of Testing, explained
that, for Discoverer 1, “everything goes great. It take off, everything
is fine, and so the Air Force hold a big press conference to say that Discoverer
I is in orbit. Unfortunately, the tracking station never heard it, nor
anybody else. But we’d already said it’s in orbit! “Then, we got back
and look at the facts, and the facts are that the tracking station got
only about half of the Agena burn, so it can only track halfway and assumed
that, if everything was right half the way, everything continued to be
right to the rest of the way. But that’s a bad assumption!
And so, we learn that you’ll never say it’s in orbit until you get acquisition
by a tracking station. “And then, we spend
three weeks trying to prove that it went into orbit - I’ve sign the report
that it said it went in orbit -, but I’m really convinced that it did went
in the South Pacific.

Notes:

On 25 November 1957, USAF awarded contract
for a surveillance satellite to Lockheed. DOD announced details of Project
Discoverer, series of polar orbiting satellites, on 3 December 1958. “The Discoverer
project involves a series of vehicle launchings to further to develop new
systems and techniques for production and operation of military space vehicles.
The first launchings will be primarily to test the Discoverer vehicle and
its subsystems, including propulsion and guidance. Later vehicles in the
series will carry biomedical experiments to seek data on environmental
conditions useful to Project Mercury.” (USASA, 1959) “The Department
of Defense placed special emphasis on its Discoverer Satellite Program
in 1959. Its objective: the testing of components, propulsion and guidance
systems, and techniques for several U.S. space projects. A capsule-recovery
operation, so far unsuccessful, is a principal technique being tested in
the program. ” (USASA, 1960)
“During 1959, particular emphasis was placed on the Discoverer Satellite
Program which has as its objective the testing of components, propulsion
and guidance systems and techniques to be utilized in various United States
space projects. Foremost among the techniques being tested is the capsule
recovery operation. Although no successful recovery has been effected to
date, much has been learned concerning the many complex problems associated
with the technique which is so vital to military space efforts. In the
near future, biomedical specimens will be carried in the Discoverer satellite
for the purpose of gaining more knowledge on the effects of space travel. “Eight of the nine
military space launches made during 1959 were Discoverer vehicles, Six
of these successfully attained orbit. The first Discoverer satellite successfully
achieved orbit, propulsion and guidance performance was satisfactory and
test of capability for polar launch from the Pacific Missile Range was
assured.” (USASA, 1960) The Discoverer program
was managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department
of Defense and the U.S. Air Force. The real primary goal of the program
was to develop a film-return photographic surveillance satellite to assess
how rapidly the Soviet Union was producing long-range bombers and ballistic
missiles and where they were being deployed, and to take photos over the
Sino-Soviet bloc to replace the the U2 spyplanes. It was part of the secret
Corona program which was also used to produce maps and charts for the Department
of Defense and other U.S. government mapping programs. The goal of the
program was not revealed to the public at the time, it was presented as
a program to orbit large satellites to test satellite subsystems and investigate
the communication and environmental aspects of placing humans in space,
including carrying biological packages for return to Earth from orbit.
In all, 38 Discoverer satellites were launched by February 1962, although
the satellite reconnaissance program continued until 1972 as the Corona
project. The program documents were declassified in 1995. Mass: 618.0 kg

3 March 1959 at 5h11 UT, from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-5, by a Juno
II.

Orbit:

147.5 million km x 173.6 million
km x 0.127° x 406.9 days

A&A

147.4 million km x 173.6 million km x 0.127°
x 406.9 days

ESAM

0.9171 a.u. x 1.142 a.u. x 1.3° x 398
days.

USCSP

0.9871 a.u. x 1.142 a.u. x 1.30° x 398
days.

TRW

Decayed:

Forever in space.

Mission:

Historical reports: Pioneer IV, fourth
U.S.-IGY space probe, a joint ABMA-JPL project under direction of NASA,
achieved Earth-Moon trajectory, passing within 59,500 km of the Moon before
going into permanent solar orbit. Radio contact was maintained to a record
distance of 654,250 km - a new communications record. It was the first
U.S. sun-orbiter. Pioneer IV, weighting 6.1 kg, carries radiation measurements
in space on Earth-Moon trajectory, and photoelectric scanner for use in
vicinity of Moon. Yielded data on radiation in space, tracked for 82 hours
to a distance of 655,000 km and is in Solar orbit. (A&A, 1961) Weight:
6 kg (4 kg net). The 6.1-kg Pioneer
IV probe passed within 60,000 km of the Moon on 4 March 1959. thus achieving
its primary mission. ON a Earth-Moon trajectory, it yielded excellent radiation
data and provided valuable tracking experience. It was tracked for a total
of 82 hours and four minutes, to 655,000 km, the greatest distance a man-made
object had been tracked up to that time. The probe is now orbiting the
Sun; it reached its perihelion (at 147,540,000 km) on 17 March 1959, and
its aphelion (at 170,715,000 km) on 1 October 1959. (USASA, 1960)

* * * * *

The original second Army’s Pioneer flight would
carry the complete camera on a looping trajectory around the Moon, with
the aim of returning one good photograph of the far side. However, the
data returned by Pioneer 3's
radiation experiments, and the discovery of the second radiation shell,
heightened scientific interest in charged particles in near-Earth space
all the more. So, in early 1959, James Van Allen and his associate George
Ludwig of the State University of Iowa urged that their radiation package
be flown again in place of the television system on Pioneer 4 to obtain
more radiation data and to further refine information already secured.
Space officials approved the change. Pioneer 4 would also be launched on
a lunar flyby trajectory rather than on a circumlunar trajectory for photographic
purposes, so as to measure radiation between the Earth and the Moon. Pioneer 4, the last
of the ARPA-initiated lunar probes, rose from Cape Canaveral without incident
on March 3, 1959, carrying scientific instruments virtually identical to
those of Pioneer 3. The only distinctive new feature was a small amount
of lead shielding, added to one of the two Geiger tubes to screen out low-intensity
charged particles. In this flight,
the launch vehicle provided the spacecraft Earth-escape velocity, and the
craft passed by the Moon at a distance of 60,000 kilometers. The shielded
Geiger counter showed a lower level of radiation in the low-altitude shell
than that detected by Pioneer 3, and almost no radiation in the high-altitude
shell. The second monitor, acting as a counter and scaler, also detected
both bands, but the peak radiation was slightly broader in extent. These
scientific data added further support to the hypothesis that the Earth's
magnetic field acted as a trap for charged particles that accumulated,
slowly dispersed, and then built up again as a function of activity on
the surface of the Sun. (NASA SP-4210,
1977)

* * * * *

During the period 1958-1960, eight spin-stabilized
Pioneer spacecraft were launched to study the Moon, but only one of these,
Pioneer IV, accomplished this mission, the others suffering various launch
vehicle failures. Although only one of the probes accomplished its intended
mission, important information was provided in other scientific disciplines,
such as the discovery of a second radiation belt by Pioneer III. This surprise
discovery led to a change in mission for Pioneer IV, which had originally
been planned as a lunar orbiting mission to take photographs of the Moon.
Following the Pioneer III mission, Pioneer IV's mission was changed to
investigate radiation between the Earth and Moon and then to fly on past
the Moon and enter a heliocentric orbit. These objectives were successfully
met. (USCSP)

* * * * *

Current overview: Pioneer 4 carried a
payload similar to Pioneer 3: a lunar radiation environment experiment
using a Geiger-Mueller tube detector and a lunar photography experiment.
It became the first U.S. spacecraft to reach Earth's escape velocity, but
it did not achieve its primary objective of photographing the Moon during
a flyby. The spacecraft was a cone-shaped probe 51 cm high and 23 cm in
diameter at its base. A photoelectric sensor protruded from the center
of the base. The sensor was designed with two photocells which would be
triggered by the light of the Moon when the probe was within about 30,000
km. During the launch, the second stage did not cut off on time and caused
the trajectory to change. Consequently, the probe passed by the Moon at
a range of 59,545 kilometers at a speed of 7,230 km/hr – instead of the
planned 32,000 kilometers – not close enough for the imaging scanner to
function. No lunar radiation was detected. The closest approach was on
4 March 1959 at 10h25 UT. The spacecraft’s tiny radio transmitted information
for 82 hours before contact was lost at a distance of 655,000 kilometers
from Earth, the greatest tracking distance for a human-made object to date.
Pioneer 4 eventually entered heliocentric orbit and became the first American
spacecraft to do so. Scientists received excellent data on radiation in
space. The 6.1 kg craft was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and launched for NASA by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA).

13 April 1959 at 21h19 UT, from
Vandenberg Air Force Base's LC-75-3-4, by a Thor
Agena A.

Orbit:

251 km x 362 km x 0.2°
off N-S axis x 990.4 min.

A&A

239 km x 349 km x 89.9° x 90.4 min.

ESAM

239 km x 346 km x 89.9° x 90.4 min.

USCSP

239 km x 346 km x 90.0° x 90.6 min.

TRW

239 km x 346 km x 89.9° x 90.40 min.

Wade

Decayed:

26 April 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: Discoverer II
successfully launched into polar orbit, but capsule ejection malfunctioned,
causing it to impact in vicinity of Spitzbergen on April 14, instead of
vicinity of Hawaii. It was first vehicle known to have been placed in a
polar orbit and was the first attempt to recover an object from orbit.
Discoverer II was the first satellite to carry a recoverable instrument
package. Total weight: 725 kg/743 kg, including 110 kg instrumentation
for communication and performance and a 88.5-kg recoverable data capsule.
Capsule impacted near Spitsbergen in 14 April 1960, and payload decayed
on 26 April 1960. (A&A, 1961

* * * * *

Current overview: Discoverer 2 was a KH-1
('Key Hole') prototype reconnaissance satellite to test capsule recovery
techniques (did not carry camera). It was designed to gather spacecraft
engineering data and to attempt ejection of an instrument package from
orbit for recovery on Earth. The craft was 1.5 meter in diameter, 5.85
meters long and had a mass of roughly 3,800 kg (including propellants;
dry mass 743 kg). It included 111 kg for the instrumentation payload and
88 kg for the reentry vehicle. The capsule section of the reentry vehicle
was 84 cm in diameter and 69 cm long and held a parachute, test life-support
systems, cosmic-ray film packs to determine the intensity and composition
of cosmic radiation (presumably as a test for storage of future photographic
film), and a tracking beacon. The capsule was designed to be recovered
by a specially equipped aircraft during parachute descent, but was also
designed to float to permit recovery from the ocean. After 17 orbits,
on 14 April 1959, a reentry vehicle was ejected. It was planned that the
capsule would reenter over the vicinity of Hawaii for recovery, but a timer
malfunction caused premature capsule ejection and reentry over the north
polar region. The capsule was never recovered. The main instrumentation
payload remained in orbit and carried out vehicular performance and communications
tests. The Discoverer 2
mission successfully gathered data on propulsion, communications, orbital
performance, and stabilization. All equipment functioned as programmed
except the timing device. It was the first satellite to be stabilized in
orbit in all three axes, to be maneuvered on command from the Earth, to
separate a reentry vehicle on command, and to send its reentry vehicle
back to Earth. The Discoverer
reentry vehicle — without any classified material aboard — had reportedly
come down on Spitzbergen Island, north of Norway, in the Arctic Circle.
Air Force officers raced to the scene, but did not locate the craft and
they suspected that the Soviet Union might have retrieved it. This incident
formed the basis for the novel and later movie Ice
Station Zebra. In the winter of
1960/1961, a Discovery capsule was reportedly found by loggers near Kalinin,
200 km north of Moscow. (Some said it was found as early as the winter
of 1959.) It was a polished aluminium sphere, 30 cm in diameter, gilded
on the exterior. The loggers cracked it open with an axe. Sergei Khrushchev
(son of Premier Khrushchev) believed this to be the Discoverer 2 capsule.
What was left was examined by Soviet engineers but didn’t reveal much information. However, neither
the Soviet Union nor the later Russian government has ever confirmed that
they retrieved a capsule. More to the point, a key Air Force official involved
in the launch doubted that it was ever recovered. He noted that it was
highly unlikely that the vehicle could have come down and hit the only
bit of dry land amid millions of square kilometers of ocean. In a 1996 Discovery
Channel documentary, Col. Frank Buzard, Corona Chief of Testing, explained
that “With Discoverer II, we tough that everything was great, but we made
a mistake at a tracking station at Kaena Point: they miss-set the timer
(which was very easy to do), and we never could talk to it again.
And because we were very paranoid about the Russians taking control of
the satellite, we only turn on the com system when it was supposed to be
in range of a tracking station. So. It’s gone and the only thing
we can do is to sit and worried where this thing is going to come down.” By studying the
capsule’s trajectory, the Corona team guess that the film pod would land
near the Arctic territory of Spitzbergen, perilously close to the U.S.S.R. “Did Discoverer II really
go down near Spitzbergen? “A bunch of guys jump
into an airplane and flew to Norway, and than they were to go out and see
if they can find it. But there is no way to get from Norway to Spitzbergen;
there are no landing fields in Spitzbergen - it not big enough. So, they
flew over and saw a lot of tracks in the snow and they said: ‘Ah, that
must be the Russians getting the capsule.’” Luckily, Discoverer
II didn’t carry a camera. The mission payload was a pair of artificial
mice, part of the biomedical cover-up story.

Current overview: This 10.3-kg Vanguard
payload consisting of two independent spheres: the first sphere contained
a precise magnetometer, to map the Earth's magnetic field, and a second
sphere, a 75-cm inflatable sphere, for optical tracking. The Vanguard Radiation
Ballance satellite was a magnesium alloy sphere, 50 cm in diameter, intended
to measure the solar-Earth heating process which generates weather. This
was the firs double-satellite launch attempt. Unfortunately, the Vanguard
SLV-5’s second stage failed because of damage at stage separation, so the
spacecraft did not achieve orbit. A faulty second stage pressure valve
of the launch vehicle caused the failure.

Current overview: This 10.3-kg Vanguard
payload consisting of two independent spheres: the first sphere contained
a precise magnetometer, to map the Earth's magnetic field, and a second
sphere, a 75-cm inflatable sphere, for optical tracking. The Vanguard Radiation
Ballance satellite was a magnesium alloy sphere, 50 cm in diameter, intended
to measure the solar-Earth heating process which generates weather. This
was the firs double-satellite launch attempt. Unfortunately, the Vanguard
SLV-5’s second stage failed because of damage at stage separation, so the
spacecraft did not achieve orbit. A faulty second stage pressure valve
of the launch vehicle caused the failure.

Current overview: Discoverer 3 was the
first prototype of a low-resolution photo surveillance satellite (KH-1),
However, the spacecraft did not carry a camera. This second capsule recovery
mission failed because of a rocket malfunction (no telemetry received after
Agena ignition). (Photo: Discovery 3's rocket on its launch pad.)

5th Soviet lunar probe attempt,
and 4th failure. As for the previous failures, this one remained unknown
until the 1980s/1990s.

•

Mission goal was probably to impact the Moon.

Sponsor:

Soviet Union (Korolev's Design Bureau)

Launch:

18 June 1959 at 8h08 UT, from
Baykonur Cosmodrome's LC-1, by an A-1/"Vostok".
(Formerly: launched by a SL-3 from Tyuratam.)

Orbit:

N/a.

Destroyed:

18 June 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: Tenthlunar
attempt (5th Soviet), but even a reference report like the Soviet
Space Program 1971-75, published in 1976, had no knowledge of this
failure.

* * * * *

Current overview: The Soviet Ye-1A probe,
like the Ye-1, was designed for lunar impact. Engineers had incorporated
some minor modifications to the scientific instruments (a modified antenna
housing for the magnetometer, six instead of four gas-discharge counters
and an improved piezoelectric detector)as a result of information received
from the first Cosmic Rocket and Pioneer
4. Spacecraft Mass: ~390 kg (with upper stage). The launch was originally
scheduled for 16 June but was postponed for two days as a result of the
negligence of a young lieutenant who inadvertently permitted fuelling of
the upper stage with the wrong propellant. During the actual launch, one
of the gyroscopes of the inertial guidance system failed at 153 seconds,
and the wayward booster was subsequently destroyed by command from the
ground.

Current overview: Discoverer 4, or KH-1
9001, was the first, first-generation, low-resolution surveillance satellite
ever launched. The mission failed because the satellite did not achieve
orbit following launcher malfunction. Spacecraft weight: 743 kg. The KH-1 (Keyhole-1)
was the first attempt to develop an optical reconnaissance satellite system.
The spacecraft was based on the Agena A upper stage, which provided attitude
control in orbit. The payload consisted of a single Corona panoramic camera
and a single Satellite Return Vehicle (SRV) film-retrieval capsule. The
camera was built by Fairchild Camera Co. and had a ground resolution of
12.9 metres. The return capsule carried its own retro motor to deorbit
at the end of the mission and was to be snap in mid-air by a specially
equipped aircraft. All KH-1 satellites were launched under the name Discoverer,
their mission was presented as R&D and science conducted under by U.S.
Air Force (no mention ever made of the Narional Reconnaissance Office).

16 July 1959 at 17h37 UT, from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-05, by a Juno
II.

Orbit:

N/a.

Destroyed:

16 July 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: The range safety
officer destroyed a Juno II rocket bearing an Explorer satellite, after
53 seconds, when it tilted sharply because of a power supply failure to
the guidance system. The 42-kg satellite contained a radiation balance
and Lyman-Alpha X-ray experiments. (USASA, 1960) NASA, with Army as executive
agent of a joint ABMA-JPL project, attempted Explorer satellite launch
with Juno II booster, but it was detroyed 5½ seconds after launch
by range safety officer. (A&A, 1961)

* * * * *

Current overview: This 41.4-kg Explorer
(S-1) mission was to measure the Earth's radiation balance. It was designed
to measure solar X-ray and Lyman-alpha flux, trapped energetic particles,
and heavy primary cosmic rays. Secondary objectives included study of micrometeoroid
penetration and Earth-atmosphere heat balance. The spacecraft was 75 cm
wide and about 75 cm high, and was powered by approximately 3000 solar
cells. This Explorer was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer 5½
seconds after liftoff because of a failure of the power supply to the guidance
system. The mission was undertaken by Explorer 7
launched three monts later.

Known to the public as the “paddlewheel satellite,”
this science mission was well publicized by NASA.

•

Most advanced U.S. science satellite to date
with 14 experiments.

•

Observed that the structure of the Van Allen
radiation Belt is more complex than supposed.

•

1st to transmit a crude picture of the Earth’s
cloud cover.

•

U.S. Air Force made the first anti-satellite
interception test with a missile (missing, as planned, the spacecraft).

Sponsor:

NASA

Launch:

7 August 1959 at 14h24 UT, from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-17A, by a Thor-Able
II.

Orbit:

251 km x 42,408 km x 46.9°
x 12.5 hr.

A&A

245 km x 42,400 km x 47.0° x 765 min.

ESAM

245 km x 42,500 km x 49.0° x 96.5 min.

USCSP

245 km x 42,400 km x 47.0° x 768 min.

TRW

245 km x 42,400 km x 47.0° x 765.00 min.

Wade

Decayed:

30 June 1961.

Mission:

Historical reports: The 64-kg Explorer
VI - the “paddlewheel satellite,” so-called because of its four vanes or
paddles studded with solar cells - contained 14 scientific experiments
and was the most advanced U.S. experiment to date. It reported a new region
of high-energy protons in the Great Radiation Region, and enough new measurements
to show considerable variations in radiation intensity and distribution.
Equipped with a photocell scanner also, Explorer VI transmitted a crude
picture of the Earth’s cloud cover from a distance of 32,000 km. On 13
October 1959, a USAF Bold Orion missile launched from a B-47, passed within
6 km of Explorer Vi at an altitude of 150 km in test firing. [This
could be the first anti-satellite test ever reported.] Explorer VI, 64.4
kg, carried instruments to measure specific level of Earth’s radiation
bels; TV scanner to relay cloud cover, micrometeor detection, and 2 magnetometers.
Acquired valuable data on radiation levers, transmitted crude cloud cover
image, detected ring of electrical current circling the Earth. (A&A,
1961) Perhaps the most
important discovery in the space sciences field during 1959, was that the
structure of the Great Radiation Region is more complex than was previously
supposed. A new region of high-energy protons was reported by Explorer
VI and enough new measurements were obtained to show considerable variations
in intensity and geographical distribution of the radiation. It now appears
that the Great Radiation Region may be an extensive area of energetic particles,
rather than the two rather distinct "doughnuts" or bands indicated by earlier
experiments. A possible hazard to astronauts will be pockets of radiation
that fade in and out, probably as a result of solar disturbances; the entire
region varies considerably in intensity of radiation and geographical distribution
over relatively short periods of time. (USASA, 1960)

* * * * *

Current overview: The 64.4-kg Explorer
6 was designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic
cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in the upper atmosphere, and
the flux of micrometeorites. It also tested a scanning device designed
for photographing cloud cover. Four solar cell paddles fixed on the satellite
recharged its batteries. Only three paddles fully erected and initial power
supply was 63% nominal, decreasing with time. Explorer 6 transmitter failed
on 11 September 1959, and the last contact with the payload was made on
6 October 1959, at which time the solar cell charging current had fallen
below that required to maintain the satellite equipment. Explorer 6 detected
three radiation levels in space.

13 August 1959 at 19h00 UT, from
Vandenberg Air Force Base LC-75-3-4, by a Thor-Agena
A.

Orbit:

219 km x 725 km x 78.9° x
94 min.

A&A

217 km x 739 km x 80.0° x 94.19 min.

ESAM

217 km x 739 km x 80.0° x 94,3 min.

USCSP

143 km x 280 km x 78.9° x 88.7 min.

TRW

214 km x 731 km x 79.9° x 94.10 min.

Wade

Decayed:

28 September 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: Discoverer V placed
in polar orbit, but reentry capsule not recovered due to post-ejection
malfunctions. Capsule ejected higher orbit. Weight: 781 kg. Down on 25
September 1959 (47 days). ON 10 February 1960,
the Department of Defense announced that the “mystery satellite“ in near
polar orbit since January may be ejected Discoverer V recovery capsule

* * * * *

Current overview: Discoverer 5, the second
KH-1, consisted of an Agena A upper stage and a Satellite Reentry Vehicle.
Spacecraft mass was 780 kg (or roughly 3,850 kg including Agena A propellants).
It was designed to test launching techniques, propulsion, communications,
orbital performance, engineering, and recovery techniques. The 140-kg reentry
vehicle included a recoverable capsule (a.k.a. a ‘bucket’) that was 84
cm in diameter and 69 cm long. This capsule held a parachute, a film canister
and a tracking beacon. The spacecraft was
successfully put into a near-polar orbit and, a day after launch (on 14
August), its SRV was separated from the Agena over the Pacific Ocean for
descent to Earth. However, the capsule was never recovered since it was
boosted into higher orbit. It decayed on 2 February 1961.

15 August 1959 at 00h31 UT, from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-26B, by a Juno
II.

Orbit:

N/a.

Destroon:

15 August 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: An attempt to
launch an inflatable satellite of micro-thin Mylar plastic film and aluminum
foil with a modifier Juno II failed because of premature fuel depletion
in the booster and a malfunction in the attitude control system for the
upper stages. Army was executive agent fof NASA-JPL (USASA, 1960; A&A,
1961) Weight: 38 kg (12 kg net).

* * * * *

Current overview: Beacon 2 was A 4.5-kg
thin plastic but large sphere (3.5-metre in diameter) launched to study
atmospheric density at various levels. It should have been the first U.S.
satellite to be visible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, remature fuel
depletion in the Juno first stage caused an upper stage malfunction, thus
the mission failed. (First stage shut down too early; no attitude control
for upper stages.)

Notes:

“On October
23, 1958 and August 14, 1959, NASA launched satellites designated Beacon
1 and 2 respectively, for ionospheric research using a small radio beacon.
Upper stage malfunctions of the launch vehicles used resulted in neither
satellite reaching orbit.” End of the program!

Current overview: Discoverer 6, the third
780-kg KH-1 surveillance satellite, was successfully put into a near-polar
orbit. Its SRV reentry vehicle was separated from the Agena-A main body
as planned and the capsule released over the Pacific Ocean for descent
to Earth, but it was not recovered.

1st man-made object to hit the
Moon.(1st man-made object to reach the surface
of another celestial body.)

•

Another spectacular 'first' for the Soviet
Union in its space race with the United States.

•

Confirmed the Moon had no appreciable magnetic
field, and no evidence of radiation belts.

Sponsor:

Soviet Union (Korolev's Design Bureau)

Launch:

12 September 1959 at 6h40 UT,
from Baykonur Cosmodrome's LC-1, by a A-1/"Vostok".

Orbit:

Ballistic trajectory, impact the Moon.

Moon impact:

14 September 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: Lunik II became
the first man-made objet to hit the Moon on the following days of its launch.
The probe strike the Moon about 435 kilometers from the visible center.
Total payload weight: 389,4 kg. Its launch coincide with the departure
of Premier Nikita Khrushchev for the United States. On 15 September, Khrushchev
presented President Eisenhower with a replica of the Soviet coat of arms
impacted on the Moon. (A&A, 1961) Lunik II traveled
381,132 km in 35 hours; first lunar impact (on 13 September 1959). Measure
external and internal temperatures; study magnetic field of Earth and Moon;
meteoric particles; heavy nuclear and other properties of cosmic rays.
Total weight: 389 kg (estimated).

* * * * *

Current overview: This sixth Luna attempt
at lunar impact was much more accurate than its predecessors. Luna 2 was
similar in design to Luna 1, a spherical spacecraft
with protruding antennae and instrument parts. The instrumentation was
also similar, including scintillation- and geiger- counters, a magnetometer,
and micrometeorite detectors. After an aborted launch on 9 September, the
probe successfully lifted off and reached escape velocity three days later.
Officially named the “Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket,” the spacecraft released
its one kilogram of natrium on 12 September at a distance of 156,000 kilometers
from Earth in a cloud that expanded out to 650 kilometers in diameter and
was clearly visible from the ground. It then successfully reached the surface
of the Moon on 14 September 1959 at 23:02:23 UT, thus becoming the first
object of human origin to make contact with another celestial body. The
probe’s impact point was approximately at 30° north latitude and 0°
longitude on the slope of the Autolycus crater, east of Mare Serenitatis.
It deposited Soviet emblems on the lunar surface carried in 9 x 15-centimeter
metallic spheres. Some 30 minutes after Luna 2, the third stage of
its rocket also impacted the Moon at an unknown location. The
mission confirmed that the Moon had no appreciable magnetic field, and
found no evidence of radiation belts at the Moon. Spacecraft Mass: 390.2
kg (with upper stage).

17 September 1959 at 14h34 UT,
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-17A, by a Thor-Able
II.

Orbit:

4,027 km away

Destroyed:

17 September 1959.

Mission:

Historical reports: ARPA–Navy Transit
1A navigation satellite was successfully launched by Thor-Able booster,
but did not orbit due to third-stage malfunction. (A&A, 1961) Weight:
143 kg. During 1959, one
other military space project than Discoverer - the navigation satellite
Transit -, progressed to the point where a launch could be attempted. This
program is designed to provide, through use of an instrumented satellite
and modified doppler technique, a highly accurate global all-weather means
of fixing precisely the position of ships and possibly air-craft. The launch of Transit
I, the first navigation satellite, was attempted but, in spite its failure
to achieve orbit due to malfunction of the Thor-Able third stage, sufficient
data were attained from this shot and other study to date to give strong
indication that this program will establish the correction factors for
refraction of signals through the ionosphere, thus enhancing the entire
art of satellite communications. The next launch in the Transit series
is scheduled for early 1960. (USASA, 1960)

* * * * *

Current overview: Transit 1A was the first
attempt to launch of a 119.0=kg Navy navigation test satellite. The mission
failed because of Thor-Able’s third stage malfunction. The Transit spacecraft
were developed for updating the inertial navigation systems on board U.S.
Navy Polaris submarines. The receivers used the known characteristics of
the satellites orbit, measured the Doppler shift of the satellites radio
signal, and thereby calculated the receivers position on the Earth.

Notes:

“The purpose of the navigation satellites
project is to institute a precise, all-weather system for determining sea
or air position anywhere on the globe, The navigation satellite will be
valuable to aircraft, surface vessels, and submarines. The project passed
from the planning to the active stage in September 1958. Several satellite
tests under this program are planned for the first six months of 1959.
The first will be a 68-kg, battery-powered package, expected to stay aloft
about three months. Later versions will be larger and longer-lived.” (USASA,
1959)

Current overview: Vanguard III, the last
Vanguard launched, carried a variety of micrometeroid detectors (microphone,
resistive-strip, light-transmission and pressurized cell) and two other
experiments: a proton-precession magnetometer, and two solar X-ray ionization
chambers. The objectives of the flight were to measure the Earth's magnetic
field, the solar X-ray radiation and its effects on the Earth's atmosphere,
and the near-Earth micrometeoroid environment. It had a 66 dentimeter magnetometer
boom. The craft was a magnesium sphere 50.8 cm in diameter and which carried
its third stage into orbit with it, therefore making the in-orbit weight
45 kilograms. (In fact, third stage failed to separate from the satellite
but this did not adversely affect the experiments.) Data transmission stopped
on 11 December 1959, after 84 days of operation. They provided a comprehensive
survey of the Earth's magnetic field over the area covered, defined the
lower edge of the Van Allen radiation belt, and provided a count of micrometeoroid
impacts. Launched by Vanguard SLV-7, Vanguard 3 has an expected orbital
lifetime of 300 years. In summary, only three Vanguard satellites achieved
orbit, and two were successful in achieving their missions (I and III).

Launch vehicle destroyed on launch
pad; payload not damaged and launched two months later (Pioneer
P-3).

•

1st probe of the 1st lunar program authorized
by NASA.

Sponsor:

NASA

Launch:

24 September 1959, from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-14, by an Atlas-Able.

Orbit:

N/a

Destroys:

N/a

Mission:

Historical reports: A NASA Atlas-Able
4 launch vehicle, minus its payload, undergoing static test at AMR, exploded
while being prepared for the launch of a 170 kg/193 kg satellite into a
lunar orbit in October.

* * * * *

The Atlas-Able V project
was the first lunar program authorized by NASA. It was managed by the Space
Technology Laboratories and launched by the Air Force, by an Atlas-Able
vehicle consisting of an Atlas ICBM with a Vanguard upper stage. Originally,
plans called for two missions to Venus, followed by two lunar orbiting
missions. However, in the spring of 1959, prompted by the success of Luna
1, NASA reprogrammed the Venus flights as lunar orbiters. Each space probe
would be a spin-stabilized, 122-kilogram, aluminum-alloy spheroid craft.
Almost a meter in diameter, it was to incorporate vernier rockets to decelerate
the probe into lunar orbit. Four "paddle wheel" solar arrays coupled with
batteries would provide electrical power. Paint patterns on the highly
polished reflective surface and an arrangement of novel cruciform temperature
control vanes would dissipate the heat generated by the Sun outside and
instruments within the spacecraft. The planned lunar
orbits of the four flights could be expected to yield a measurement of
the mean moment of inertia of the Moon. The small Pioneer television camera
designed "to get a crude outline of the Moon's surface" were to complement
such a planetary measurement on the first two Rights. Unfortuntely, because
of launch vehicle failures, none of the Atlas Able V probes launched during
1959 and 1960 even left the Earth's atmosphere. But even had these space
probes had reached interplanetary space, lunar science would scarcely have
benefited because, in short order, nonvisual science experiments had supplanted
the television cameras. In fact, of the nine scientific experiments carried
on the last two flights, only one (a magnetometer) was directed toward
investigating the Moon.

* * * * *

Current overview: The series of four ‘Pioneer
P’ had for objectives to place an advanced (168-kg) instrumented probe
in lunar orbit, to investigate the environment between the Earth and Moon,
and to develop technology for controlling and maneuvering spacecraft from
Earth. These probes were equipped to take images of the lunar surface with
a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the
poles, record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, and study
radiation, magnetic fields, and low frequency electromagnetic waves in
space. These probes were
1-meter-diameter spheres with a propulsion system mounted on the bottom,
giving a total length of 1.4 meter, and a total mass of 168 kg. The mass
of the spacecraft was 25.3 kg and the propulsion units 88.4 kg. Four solar
panels, each 60 × 60 cm and containing 2200 solar cells, extended
from the sides of the craft in a "paddle-wheel" configuration with a total
span of about 2.7 meters. The scientific instruments
consisted of an ion chamber and Geiger-Mueller tube to measure radiation
flux, a proportional radiation counter telescope to measure high energy
radiation, a scintillation counter to monitor low-energy radiation, a VLF
receiver for natural radio waves, a transponder to study electron density,
and a television facsimile system and flux-gate and search coil magnetometers.
The television camera pointed through a small hole in the sphere between
two of the solar panel mounts. The total mass of the science package, including
electronics and power supply, was 55 kg. P-1 (Able IV) was
originally planned to be a Venus fly-by mission, but was later replanned
as a lunar orbiter. It was to be launched on a Atlas-Able vehicle but the
launch vehicle was destroyed by an explosion during the pre-launch firing
test. The payload was not mounted on the rocket at this time, so it was
later launched as the P-3 mission. See launch explosion
video.

1st time we, humans, had seen the far side
of the Moon (which is different from the near side). Photos were crude
but revealing.

•

Another spectaculare Soviet achievements
in the Space Race. During this year, Soviets launched (officially) three
lunar probes and score three impressive ‘firsts.’

•

First spacecraft put into a “barycentric
orbit“, which is a very complicated trajectory, constantly influence by
Earth’s, Moon’s and Sun’s gravity forces. (It is why we don’t know exactly
when Luna 3 reentered Earth’s atmosphere.)

Sponsor:

Soviet Union (Korolev's Design Bureau)

Launch:

4 October 1959 at 0h44 UT, from
Baykonur Cosmodrome's LC-1, by a A-1/"Vostok".

Orbit:

39,367 km x 470,000 km x 80°
x 15 days

A&A

~40,000 km x ~480,000 km x 75° x 22,300
min.

ESAM

40,300 km x 476,500 km x 73.8°
x 22,700.0 min.

SSP

40,300 km x 476,500 km x 16.2° x 76.8
days.

TRW

500 km x 499,998 km x 55.0° x 21,563.20
min.

Wade

Decayed:

About 20 April 1960?

Mission:

Historical reports: Lunik III, Russia’s
translunar Earth satellite began photographic trip around the Moon, while
Premier Khrushchev was visiting Peiping. On 18 October, it provided man’s
first look at 70 percent of the backside of the Moon, 2 weeks after launched,
by transmitting automatically-taken pictures. Picture were releases on
26 October 1959. On 6 November 1960, U.S.S.R. published atlas on the far
side of the Moon based on Lunik III photographs. (A&A, 1961) Lunik III passed
7,035 km from the Moon on 6 October 1959 and photographed back side of
the Moon. Produce photograph of 70 percent of Moon’s dark side. Pictures
transmitted before perigee on 18 October 1959. Reentered Earth’s atmosphere
about 20 April 1960. Total weight: 278,5 kg scientific satellite; last
stage weighing 1,553 kg (without fuel) also went into orbit which contained
156.5 kg of instruments, for a total weight of 1,831 kg.

* * * * *

A much more complex operation than Luna
1 and Luna 2, was launched on 4 October 1959.
Equipped with solar cells, Luna 3 had a much longer active life than its
two predecessors. Its so-called barycentric orbit brought the probe sweeping
back toward Earth. Pictures of the far side of the Moon were returned on
18 October, and were to have been transmitted at another point much closer
to Earth, but the second transmission was not accomplished. These pictures were
very indistinct, but through computer enhancement permitted the Russians
to develop a tentative atlas of the far side of the Moon. (At first, some
speculated that these pictures were Soviet forgery, but they were proven
wrong when some of the same features eventually were found in the later
and far superior pictures taken by American Lunar Orbiter spacecraft.) Typical of barycentric
orbits, which are influenced in a complex way by the tug of both Earth
and Moon gravity, the flight path kept changing, and. apparently after
198 days in eccentric orbit, the payload, long since radio-silent, reentered
the Earth's atmosphere to burn. (SSP, 1976)

* * * * *

Current overview: Luna 3 returned the
first views ever of the far side of the Moon. It was the first Soviet probe
designed to take pictures of the Moon using the Yenisey-2 imaging system;
its TV system consisted of a 35-mm camera with two lenses of 200-mm (wide-angle)
and 500-mm (high-resolution) focal lengths and a capacity to read up to
40 images. It was the third spacecraft successfully launched to the Moon
and the first to return images of the lunar far side. The spacecraft was a cylindrically
shaped canister, 130 cm long and 120 cm at its maximum diameter. Solar
cells were mounted along the outside of the cylinder. The upper hemisphere
of the probe held the covered opening for the cameras. Four antennae protruded
from the top of the probe and two from the bottom. The spacecraft weighted
278.5 kg. The launch vehicle
inserted the spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth
at 48,280 x 468,300 kilometers, sufficient to reach lunar distance. During
the coast to the Moon, the probe suffered overheating problems and poor
communications, but it passed over the Moon’s southern polar cap on 6 October
at a range of 7,900 kilometers before climbing up over the Earth-Moon plane.
The first image was taken on 7 October at 3h30 UT at a distance of 65,200
kilometers, after Luna 3 had passed the Moon and looked back at the sunlit
far side. The last image was taken 40 minutes later from 66,700 kilometers.
Altogether, twenty-nine photographs were taken, covering 70 percent of
the far side. The exposed film was then developed, fixed, and dried automatically,
after which a special light beam of up to 1,000 lines per image scanned
the film for transmission to Earth. Images were finally received the next
day (after a few aborted attempts). The photographs were very noisy and
of low resolution, but many features could be recognized. Seventeen of
the images were of usable quality and showed parts of the Moon never before
seen by human eyes. In fact, Luna 3’s images were very indistinct but,
through computer enhancement, a tentative atlas of the lunar far side was
produced. These first views of the lunar far side showed mountainous
terrain, very different from the near side, and only two dark regions which
were named Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Dreams).
Most noticeably these photographs showed the lack of lunar maria (the dark
areas), prompting scientists to revise their theories of lunar evolution.

7th and last U.S.-IGY satellite:
“All experiments for the U.S.-IGY space program had been successfully placed
into orbit.“

•

Explorer 7 made the crucial discovery that
Solar storms are correlated with perturbations of the Van Allen Belts,
thus provoking geomagnetic storms in the upper regions of the ionosphere,
and Aurora lights.

Sponsor:

NASA

Launch:

13 October 1959 at 15h30 UT,
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's LC-05, by a Juno
II.

Orbit:

550 km x 1,095 x 50.3°
x 101.33 min.

A&A

556 km x 1,088 km x 50.31° x 108.28 min.

ESAM

556 km x 1,088 km x 50.3° x 101.3 min.

USCSP

---- km x 1,088 km x 50.3° x 99.9 min.

TRW

523 km x 857 km x 50.3° x 98.60 min.

Wade

Decayed:

Still in orbit.

Mission:

Historical reports: Explorer VII,
the seventh and last U.S.-IGY satellite, and now under direction of NASA
with the Army as executive agent, was placed into orbit. With this launch,
all experiments for the U.S.-IGY space program had been successfully placed
into orbit. By late December 1959, data from the satellite indicated possible
relationships between solar events and geomagnetic storms, and revealed
information about trapped radiation and cosmic rays near the Earth. According
to data analyses, on 9 November 1959, entire outer Van Allen radiation
belt broke up and disappeared for several days. Then, during severed geomagnetic
storm on 28 November 1959, two Geiger tubes on Explorer VII found anomalies
in the outer radiation zone at about 1,500 km altitude, which appeared
to be correlated in space and time with optical emissions from the atmosphere
below. Very intense narrow zones of radiation were detected over
a visible aurora during one orbit. On 13 October 1960, transmitter of Explorer
VII failed to stop as programed. On 14 November 1960, IGY Warning Center
reported that solar flares were causing "extremely severe" magnetic disturbance
of Earth's atmosphere, an event detected by Explorer VII and later analyzed
as greatest burst of solar radiation in the satellite's 13-month of operation.
(A&A, 1961) Explorer VII, a
41.5 kg satellite containing radiation balance, Lyman-Alpha X-ray and heavy
primary X-ray experiments, went into predicted orbit, all equipment working
as programmed. It has revealed valuable data about trapped radiation and
cosmic radiation near the Earth, indicating a possible correlation with
solar events and geomagnetic storms. (USASA, 1960) Explorer VII was
launched to study Earth-Sun budget. It carried Lyman-alpha X-ray counters
and cosmic-ray counter. The satellite provided significant physical data
on radiation and magnetic storms; first penetration of a sensor in flight
by micrometeorite. Spacecraft weight: 41.5 kg.

* * * * *

Current overview: Explorer 7 is the first
of the four Solar Physics Explorers that have been launched between 1959
and 1971 to investigate various aspects of solar physics (with Explorer
20, Explorer 37 and
Explorer
44). It was one of the first satellites to monitor solar X-rays, which
had been postulated as being responsible for sudden disturbances of the
upper regions of the ionosphere, rather than ultraviolet rays. It also
chemically identified heavy particles of cosmic rays, studied the transfer
of heat from the tropics to the polar regions, and from the Earth into
space. Explorer 7 was designed
to measure solar X-ray and Lyman-alpha flux, trapped energetic particles,
and heavy primary cosmic rays. Secondary objectives included collecting
data on micrometeoroid penetration and molecular sputtering and studying
the Earth-atmosphere heat balance. The spacecraft was 75 cm wide at its
equator and about 75 cm high, and weighted 41.5 kg.

Current overview: First generation low
resolution photo surveillance satellite (KH-1). Discoverer 7 was designed
to test launching techniques, propulsion, communications, orbital performance,
engineering, and recovery techniques. The spacecraft consisted of a main
satellite body (Agena A) and a separable reentry vehicle containing a recovery
capsule. Spacecraft mass was 794 kg (and roughly 3,850 kg with Agena fully
fuelled), which included 140 kg for the reentry vehicle. Discoverer 7 was
put into a near-polar orbit, but the power supply inverter providing electricity
to the control system did not operate correctly, and the satellite began
tumbling after launch. The reentry vehicle failed to separate from the
spacecraft.

Current overview: First generation low
resolution photo surveillance satellite (KH-1). Discoverer 8 was designed
to test launching techniques, propulsion, communications, orbital performance,
engineering, and recovery techniques. The spacecraft consisted of a main
satellite body (Agena A) and a separable reentry vehicle containing a recovery
capsule. Spacecraft mass was 794 kg (and roughly 3,850 kg with propellants),
which included 140 kg for the reentry vehicle. Discoverer 8 was
successfully put into a near-polar orbit and, after 15 orbits, the reentry
vehicle was separated from the main body and the capsule released over
the Pacific Ocean for descent to Earth. Unfortunately, the descent parachute
failed to deploy and the capsule impacted the ocean at high spped and was
not recovered.

Current overview: The first of four spacecrafts
designed for lunar orbital mission. Pioneer P-3 (Atlas-Able 4) was intended
to be a lunar orbiter. Mission objectives were to place a highly instrumented
probe in lunar orbit, to investigate the environment between the Earth
and Moon, and to develop technology for controlling and maneuvering spacecraft
from Earth. The probe was equipped to take images of the lunar surface
with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography
of the poles, record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites,
and study radiation, magnetic fields, and low frequency electromagnetic
waves in space. Pioneer P-3 was
a 1 metre diameter sphere with a propulsion system mounted on the bottom,
giving a total length of 1.4 metre. Spacecraft mass was 25.3 kg and the
propulsion units 88.4 kg. Four solar panels, each 60 x 60 cm and containing
2200 solar cells, extended from the sides of the spherical shell in a "paddle-wheel"
configuration with a total span of about 2.7 metres. During the launch,
the nose fairing began to break away just 45 seconds after liftoff. Aerodynamic
forces then caused the third stage and payload to break away and explode.
The ground lost contact with the tumbling booster at 104 seconds. Investigation
showed that the 3-metre fiberglass shroud failed because there had been
no measures to compensate for pressure differentials as the rocket gained
altitude. (Spacecraft Mass: 169 kg.)

Notes:

Designed by Space Technology Laboratories,
two of the four Pionner P/Able had originally been slated for Venus orbit
(in June 1959), but mission planners had redirected their missions after
the success of Luna 3. All the scientific experiments
and internal instrumentation were powered by nickel-cadmium batteries charged
from 1,100 solar cells on 4 paddles. Each probe also carried an internal
hydrazine monopropellant motor for lunar orbit insertion at a range of
8,000 kilometres from the Moon. Ideal lunar orbital parameters were planned
as 6,400 x 4,800 kilometres. The missions also inaugurated the first use
of the Atlas plus an upper stage combination, affording increased payload
weight.

From 1957 to 1959, the Soviets
reported to have launched six spacecraft: three Earth satellites and three
Lunar probes - all spectacular success. In fact, they had attempted to
launch 11 spacecraft - 4 Earth satellites and 7 lunar probes - but five
failures were not known to the West until the 1980s and 1990s. Since the
Soviets didn’t announced any launch failures, this gave the impression
that they made only successful launches. However, Western experts suspected
some failures, as in the U.S., but how many? More or less than the U.S.?

For their part, the United States
made 38 launch attempts (publicly known) during the 1950s, scoring 17 success
and 20 failures. And there was Discoverer 1,
first announced as a launch success but which never reach orbit.

Thus, U.S.S.R. has a success
launch rate of 55% and the U.S. 46%, as shown in the table below.

All Soviet failures
were unknown at the time; they were revealed only in the 1980s and 1990s.

**

Including Pioneer 1, although
it failed to reach its goal (the Moon), it had provide important scientific
information.

***

Does not include the very secretive
NOTS program, unknown at the time.

Notes

pF = partial failure; pS =
partial success; ½S = half success; ½F half failure. (Paradoxically,
a partial failure is more than a partial success, since it means that the
mission was mostly successfull except for an important aspect, as a partial
success is a mission which mostly failed except on an important aspect.
Same for a half failure and a half success. Obviously, a launch failure
is a complete failure.)

pF1

Sputnik 2 was mostly a successful
mission but, since Laika died hours after launch (following heat exhaustion),
the mission could be considered a partial failure. (No recovered were planned
from the beginning.)

pF2

Explorer 4 was tumbling in
space, which made the interpretation of its data very difficult.

½S3

Pioneer 1 lunar probe is considered
a success despite the fact that it did not reach the Moon, since it traveled
114,700 km into space, about 30 times farther than any man-made device
had gone until that time.

pS4

Pioneer 2 lunar probe only
flew 1,500 km from Earth but made some interesting observations about radiations
and micrometeorites.

pS5

Failed to fly by the Moon but
yielded valuable radiation data.

pF6

Lunik 1’s mission was to impact
the Moon, but it became a spectacular ‘first’ when it flew by the Moon
and placed itself in Solar orbit.

Discoverer 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8
were successfully placed into polar orbit but their reentry capsule were
not recovered.

During 1959, U.S. made 20 launch
attempts, succeeding 10 times. Both NASA and the Department of Defense
succeed in launching 5 of their 10 spacecraft.

Even though Soviet lunar probes
made the most spectacular accomplishments of the year – first man-made
object placed into Solar orbit, first man-made object to ‘land’ on the
Moon, and first photos of the far side of the Moon -, American scientific
satellites made some of the most significant observations and discoveries
(as in 1958). In particular,
Explorer 7 found evidence of relationships between solar storms and perturbations
in Earth’s upper atmosphere. It thus observed, for the first time, direct
relationships between Earth and Sun, separated by 150 million km.

For their part, all the military
satellites failed to accomplish the missions for which they were designed
for. In particular, DOD tried six times to recover a capsule from space.

And one of the surprizing aspect
of the early days of space activities was the U.S. insistence on the “Peaceful
use of Outer Space“ as they were the only one to carry military missions
in orbit (see below).

.

U.S. Military or Peaceful
Use of Space?

In the early days of the Space
Age, the United States made many claims of using “Outer Space for Peaceful
Purpose” only, while developing many military projects.

For example, in April 1959,
U.S. formally requested that the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space convene in New York. (The meeting took place from 6
May to 25 June.) In December, U.S. Ambassador Lodge presented a resolution
to the Assembly of the United Nations recommending that an international
conference on the peaceful uses of space be convened in 1960 or 1961, etc.

And in the mean time, U.S. was
developing a vast series of military space capabilities:

1)

Discoverer, technology and
reconnaissance (‘spy’) satellites;

2)

Transit, navigation satellite
(for Polaris nuclear-missile guidance);

3)

SAMOS, military Earth observation
(‘spy’) satellites;

4)

Vela, for detection of nuclear
explosions around the world;

5)

SAINT, for rendezvous and inspection
of satellites in space (anti-satellite system);

6)

GREB, electronic intelligence
satellites;

7)

NOTUS (Courier), a communications
satellite system for the Department of Defense;

8)

Shepherd, a space surveillance
tracking system;

9)

Longsight, to foreseen military
needs in space technology (R&D satellites);

10)

Dyna-Soar, a manned, maneuverable
aerospace vehicle.

As President Eisenhower explained*.

The primary space interest
of the Department of Defense is in the application of the new capability
for flight in space as a means toward achieving a more effective military
posture for the United States and its allies, rather than space flight
and exploration as ends in themselves. Therefore, the space efforts of
the Department of Defense are an integral part of our overall military
program and will complement or supplement other military capabilities.
Applications of space technology appear to provide foreseeably better means
of achieving certain military requirements. Space technology is being developed
with the intention of more effectively achieving certain military functions
by complementing or extending non-space capabilities. In addition, as space
technology and resulting uses of outer space expand, new military requirements
and opportunities for development of new military capabilities are likely
to materialize. Thus, the major objectives of the Department of Defense
efforts are development, production and operation of systems where it can
be demonstrated with reasonable certainty that the use of space flight
will enhance the over-all defense program, or the development of components
which would be needed in such systems which cannot be clearly defined at
this time.

But how, if you were then the
Soviet premier, would you have interpreted this dual language? Or, imagine
the opposite: Soviets claiming “Peaceful Use of Outer Space“ while conducting
secret missions in Earth orbit…